Quetta once again proved to a soft target for terrorists, renewing debate whether key militants’ strongholds in fact have been dismantled.

Quetta once again proved to a soft target for terrorists, renewing debate whether key militants’ strongholds in fact have been dismantled.

The gunmen, reportedly with their connections in Afghanistan, stormed the police training academy in Quetta on the night of October 24 and sprayed at least 60 people with bullets, after taking them hostage in one the deadliest assaults braving the country this year.

Though military offensive has resulted in perceptible decline in terror attacks across the country, but occasional strike by militants in its wake prompts another wake-up call every other time.

Pakistan Army launched operation “Zarb-e-Azb” in June 2014 in a bid to root out militant bases in the North Waziristan tribal area and so to bring an end to the bloody decade-long insurgency that has cost Pakistan thousands of lives.

The army intensified its offensive after Peshawar school attack in 2014 which killed 151 since when there has been a lull in violence.

In 2015, overall levels of violence had dropped dramatically, with the fewest deaths among civilian and security forces since 2007 — the year the Pakistani Taliban umbrella group was formed.

Here’s the timeline of the deadliest terror attacks in Pakistan this year:

Gunmen wreak havoc on Charsadda university

On January 20, Taliban gunmen attack a university in Charsadda, killing at least 21.

Deadly explosion in Lahore’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park

At least 74 people lost their lives and hundreds injured in an explosion near a park in Lahore on March 27.

Quetta bleeds in hospital attack

At least 48 people were killed today (August 8) after a bomb ripped through a major hospital in Quetta.

Many of the dead were lawyers and journalists who had earlier gathered to cover a protest over the murder of Balochistan Bar Association president Bilal Anwar Kasi.

22 killed in Mohmand mosque attack

A suicide bomber killed at least 36 people as they attend Friday prayers at a mosque in Mohmand Agency on September 17

But some unconfirmed sources put the death toll on 25.

The electronic media of the country, however turned a blind eye to Mohmand blast, and diverted all its coverage to arrest of Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Khwaja Izharul Hassan by senior cop Rao Anwar in Karachi.

Terrorists strike Quetta police training academy

Heavily-armed militants wearing suicide vests stormed a police academy in Quetta, killing at least 60 people and wounding dozens more in one of the deadliest extremist attacks this year.

Three gunmen from a Pakistani Taliban-linked group burst into the sprawling academy, targeting sleeping quarters that are home to some 700 recruits.